The Path Where You and I are Together
by thecookiedimension
Summary: This story is about Cruella and Ursula's plan to get all the variations of their happy endings. One of the steps is for Cruella to fake her death. Whole story details their planning and execution, intertwined with 4B events. Hints at possible subplots for a Queens of Darkness spin off (coming soon, hopefully, depending on my mood to write) & Cross-Over to True Blood (fingers cross)
1. Ch 1 Opening Night

A/N: This is my second fic I wrote ever, and the first fic I'm publishing ever. I'm scared and thrilled to share it in public. Comments are welcome and greatly appreciated.

After dumping Hook in the water and being heartbroken that she didn't get her singing voice back, there's no other place for Ursula to go to than Rumplestiltskin's cabin. Right in time, because she just saw the Charmings make their way inside. Waiting for the right moment to step in, Ursula observed not too far away. Meanwhile, she again felt the pang of false hope. She actually thought there's progressive development with getting her singing voice back. As a villain, she always gives room for the worse outcome, but she actually believed that the deal with Hook may be the final answer for this matter. Ursula snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a clunk of a metal object. She immediately thought, one of the Charmings probably hit Cruella with a frying pan. "So uninspired. This trick has always been done and it's so boring. It doesn't even work most of the time. Poor Cru." She needed to step in now, to distract the Charmings so Cruella can escape and warn the others. This wasn't planned but as she, Mal and Cruella have been friends, they learned to feed off each other's villainous ways. It's like improv acting. Or gal pals sharing a secret language.

Ursula burst into the cabin. "No one is going anywhere."

All the charade have to happen. All the things she needs to act out: the threatening, the actual hurting of the heroes. To distract these naive, gullible, annoying as fuck heroes, so Cruella can make her way out. At this point though, she actually wanted to hurt Snow for threatening her and Cruella not long ago in the middle of the night, near the woods, in the pouring rain.

Ursula has killed people. She had her reign of terror as queen of the sea, as the sea witch, before getting dumped into this world. Somehow though, living in NYC, alone after Cruella and her parted ways, made her soft. It made her remember who she was when she had her singing voice. She decided that if she gets her tentacles back, ever, not only would she pursue getting her singing voice back but she will only hurt, even kill the people who wronged her. No more innocent people. However annoying they can be.

She kept the villain act. Yes, the Charmings wronged her, sent her and Cruella to this Land Without Magic but at this point, the exhaustion of 30 years being banished made her pragmatic.

Because it is very possible that, even if the Charmings didn't commit their idiocy, Cruella and her will still end up in the Land Without Magic. Mal did when she got left behind, and got swept by Regina's idea of revenge. It is true though, that the day Mal, Cruella and her escaped the Chernabog cave, they began researching and brainstorming on how to escape the Dark Curse. They found no way. She might be adept at opening portals as a sea creature but they discovered it won't help. The Dark Curse will wipe away all magical properties from the land. The three of them in their search of a solution, actually run into a certain Cora, who is a powerful witch. They only knew that she has some pretty amazing powers, travelled across realms, came recently from a land called Wonderland. "What an idiotic name," they all thought while looking at each other. "Every land is fascinating and magical enough to be called wonder-land but to name it as such is simplistic and uninspiring." The three of them might not have telepathic powers as some fairies in a small Southern French sounding town but the few weeks they have spent together made them in sync. Though not as in sync as Cruella and Ursula are slowly becoming, but neither will admit until later.

They knew nothing more about this Cora. They dare not challenge her to a duel because what is the point? They need to move fast. So if Cora doesn't share any relevant information in evading the curse, they have to move on. This Cora is acting cold and heartless and unwelcoming to help anyway. All villains are, but there's something about her that they dare not touch. Something clever and dangerous. But unlike with the three of them, as much as heartless and unwelcoming they can be, circumstance led them to trust each other. They know it's unheard of in the villain world but at least they have to try. Just for the sake of self-preservation, of evading Regina's curse. Maybe Rumplestiltskin has done something selfless after all, even if it was only incidental.

And so, they continued their search for the solution. Fast forward to the Charming's idea of good parenting and the portal jump.

Now, here they are in Rumple's cabin. Only this time Ursula is the one with the power. She would only hurt the Charmings if they prove to be a serious threat in this August situation. Ursula considers Hook as the sole reason for her misery and therefore only wants to kill that bloody pirate. And she did.

Or so she thought. Hook burst into the cabin to the surprise of all in the room. Yadda-Yadda, she got her singing voice back. Became civil enough with Hook and actually helped the heroes with spilling Rumple's plan. And finally joined her father in their way to their kingdom in the sea.

But not until she met secretly with Cruella that evening.


	2. Ch 2 Promises, Promises

Ursula made her way to the part of the woods where she and Cruella once met with the Charmings that rainy midnight. As she was walking, she remembered the conversation she and Cruella had in their first night at Granny's.

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"Who knew Wolf-Lady from the Enchanted Forest would become a business woman in this realm? I'm quite impressed," Cruella said, still surprised, and gazing all around the room they just rented.

"Well don't be too impressed. Regina orchestrated the ordeal for this town. She might be evil but she's smart with how she set it all up."

"See, that's what I like about villains, darling. Always practical. Not only did Regina gained full control of all these idiots, she made sure everyone's useful."

"Practical, huh?" Ursula raised an eyebrow. Cruella scowled as she let Ursula continue to speak.

"Everyone is useful... you mean everyone can be used."

"Don't be self-righteous. You have a fair share of people you took advantage of back in your reign as the queen of the sea," Cruella said in a gentle yet proud manner.

"Yes, I did. Like Regina, we did turn away from our families but after that we have only used people who do not matter to us."

Cruella rolled her eyes then turned around to make her way to the bed. She perfectly understood what Ursula was getting at.

Ursula made her way into the bed too, killed the lights and said good night. After two minutes however, Cruella agressively sat and irritatingly spoke,

"Hold the fuck up. It was genuinely fun dancing around the fact that it has been awhile that we've seen each other, and yet we act as if we are in sync, acting we're friendly without baggages, all in front of the bloody Dark One! But if he would stay low profile while the two of us do his orders around town, I don't like to keep these pretensions!

Ursula with her back turned took a moment before she spoke icily, "Then we stop pretending and be at each other's throats when it's just the two of us. We're already doing that. But for business around town, we can manage to be civil and snark at everyone instead. It's called projection. That would be super fun."

"Bravo, darling. I am actually trying to apologize here," she hissed while hugging her comfort blanket, her fur. Time and again, the fur has proved to have many uses.

"Aggressively." Ursula then sat up, faced the other woman and said, "Tell me again, how you conned the author?"

"That's different. He needed sweet talking. And you don't."

"Because I am not gonna be conned again by Cruella de Vil."

"Alright, I might have left you. Call it a long con if it makes you smile, but we both know it wasn't like that. It was something different for both of us. It was..."

Cruella trailed off and became silent, finishing the sentence in her mind. "It was the only moment I actually cared about anyone but myself. Being with you made me see LIFE can actually have a different meaning other than extinguishing it for my entertainment. For once, I wanted to kill not just for me, but for you and for us."

Ursula reveled in the silence too and kept to her thoughts. She always have known there was, and there is authenticity between them. Even now they're strangling each other with words instead of tentacles and fur, there is that unspoken understanding between them, but they dare not say it.

In the awkwardness that is now hovering the room, Ursula managed to remember about the strangling that they did with each other with tentacles and fur. "Good times," she thought and smiled.

Cruella noticed Ursula's smile as it slowly faded. It was a beauty to behold, a smile that fades. But how? It is usually a melancholic sight, but with Ursula it seems anything can be majestic. It's true that the murder loving witch enjoys seeing human suffering. With the queen of the sea,Cruella is so used to see her ache, as they have been through a lot together. Learning the tale of the evil tentacled sorceress losing her singing voice made her feel some sort of awe and she dared admit to herself, empathy, all those years ago. It's almost a tale for the books, she thought. And so it's not about seeing Ursula ache, but witnessing her rise above it all, every single time, that makes the animal controlling witch spot the beauty in the tentacled one. Her brown skin, her expressive eyes and her lavish bosom add to the allure too.

"Why were you smiling?" she soft spokenly asked.

"None of your business," the sea witch sternly answered.

The black and white haired woman is getting tired of this conversation, and of all the charade they needed to show in front of the manipulative Rumplestiltskin, of the loneliness that they, the two infamous witches of the Enchanted Forest had to endure in the Land Without Magic and even add their separation to the equation. Before all this, there was her pursuit of what was taken from her by that damn author, which got a little exciting when the Dark One introduced her to Maleficent and Ursula. At least, the pursuit got feasibly close to a satisfying conclusion.

And off course there was her roller coaster childhood that felt more like without the actual roller coaster but only with brakes. She's simply getting tired of everything.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Cruella is now standing in the road in the middle of the woods. She's smiling, appreciating the feel of the wind brought by the ecstasy of walking. She rarely leaves her car because she considers it a pet on wheels, but tonight it is wiser to move covertly. Just a few minutes of waiting, she finally saw Ursula walking towards her. Her smile grew wider. She welcomed the sea witch with a tight hug, only for it to be eclipsed with a tighter hug, with tentacles.

"I'm so worried about you. How's that hard head of yours?" Ursula inquired, hands moving softly on Cruella's waist as she pulled away her tentacles.

"Hard as it can be. Still working. I don't think I'm brain damaged yet."

"The irony in that statement."

"Oh come on darling, you know I'm not that unhinged."

"I don't have time to argue on that."

"Good."

Cruella suddenly grabbed Ursula into a strong, passionate, speedy kiss that seemed to last an eternity. She is relieved to be able too see her true love for one last time.

When Cruella broke off the kiss, with their foreheads still touching, she faintly heard, "I wish that kiss could last forever," to which she replied, "I know. But soon."

The two toned haired woman is coming back to her senses when she got reminded of what transpired that night.

"I'm so sorry you had to endure that cliche trick of a frying pan. At least the story looks more convincing."

"So this is it. We have to say goodbye. Again. Darling, I..."

"For now. And this time, it's a mutual decision. One sacrifice that is intended to give a long term benefit."

"I know. I just wish we could have had more time." Cruella started to sound like a spoiled brat.

"We will." One tentacle sprang up to touch the white hair as Ursula scooped that pretty face.

Ursula kissed her. This time it was slow, sweet and brief.

"I will find you an author. Or authors."

They both smiled. Ursula then turned her back and walked away as fast as she could. It's better this way.


End file.
